Social anxiety
I will give social anxiety its own section because, in its various forms, it is so common. Social anxiety is not just a fear of being in a public place but describes an overall fear of being judged by others. For some people, this can make just being in public difficult, for others, that can be fine with people we know but meeting strangers is more difficult. For some of us, we feel quite confident out and about but there are certain challenges that we would like to meet better – speaking up and clearly in work meetings, auditions, job or college interviews, giving presentations, public speaking for professional or social occasions such as wedding speeches.
Social anxiety can sometimes be a contributing factor to IBS, depression, somatic pain and other conditions that have limited our social interaction and motivation.
I take an integrative approach to working with social anxiety. Hypnosis and relaxation work is very good for reducing the experience of anxiety. CBT is very good at identifying our thinking that situations are threatening and working to provide more helpful and realistic assumptions. confidence building and assertiveness training can help us to interact and communicate more easily with others. All of these approaches would be discussed and agreed in a treatment plan that is tailored to you and your needs.